Gov't shutdown enters 2nd week, no end in sight

In this photo taken Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, Marcelo del Canto, right, a budget analyst for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, demonstrates during a rally against the government shut down during a federal union workers demonstration with congressmen outside of the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press

Summary

The government shutdown entered its second week with no end in sight and ominous signs that the United States was closer to the first default in the nation's history as Speaker John Boehner ruled out any measure to boost borrowing authority without concessions from President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON — The government shutdown entered its second week with no end in sight and ominous signs that the United States was closer to the first default in the nation's history as Speaker John Boehner ruled out any measure to boost borrowing authority without concessions from President Barack Obama.

The uncompromising talk rattled financial markets early Monday with the Dow dropping more than 100 points in early trading.

Just 10 days before the threat of a default would be imminent, animosity marked the stalemate with a statement from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accusing Boehner of a credibility problem and calling on him to allow a vote on a straightforward bill to re-open the government.

"There is now a consistent pattern of Speaker Boehner saying things that fly in the face of the facts or stand at odds with his past actions," said Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Reid. "Americans across the country are suffering because Speaker Boehner refuses to come to grips with reality."

A defiant Boehner insists that Obama must negotiate if the president wants to end the shutdown and avert a default that could trigger a financial crisis and recession that would echo 2008 or worse. The 2008 financial crisis plunged the country into the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"We're not going to pass a clean debt limit increase," the Ohio Republican said in a television interview Sunday. "I told the president, there's no way we're going to pass one. The votes are not in the House to pass a clean debt limit, and the president is risking default by not having a conversation with us."

Boehner also said he lacks the votes "to pass a clean CR," or continuing resolution, a reference to the temporary spending bill without conditions that would keep the government operating.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has warned that the budget brinkmanship was "playing with fire" and implored Congress to pass legislation to re-open the government and increase the nation's $16.7 trillion debt limit. Lew reiterated that Obama has no intention to link either bill to Republican demands for changes in the 3-year-old health care law and spending cuts.

The shutdown has pushed hundreds of thousands of workers off the job, closed national parks and museums and stopped an array of government services.

The one bright spot on Monday is a significant chunk of the furloughed federal workforce is headed back to work. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered nearly 350,000 back on the job, basing his decision on a Pentagon interpretation of a law called the Pay Our Military Act.

Those who remain at home or are working without paychecks are a step closer to getting back pay once the partial government shutdown ends. The Senate could act this week on the measure that passed the House unanimously on Saturday.

Democrats insist that Republicans could easily open the government if Boehner simply allows a vote on the emergency spending bill. Democrats argue that their 200 members in the House plus close to two dozen pragmatic Republicans would back a so-called clean bill, but the Speaker remains hamstrung by his tea party-strong GOP caucus.

"Let me issue him a friendly challenge. Put it on the floor Monday or Tuesday. I would bet there are the votes to pass it," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

In a series of Sunday television appearances, Lew warned that on Oct. 17, he exhausts the bookkeeping maneuvers he has been using to keep borrowing.

"I'm telling you that on the 17th, we run out of the ability to borrow, and Congress is playing with fire," Lew said.

Lew said that while Treasury expects to have $30 billion of cash on hand on Oct. 17, that money will be quickly exhausted in paying incoming bills given that the government's payments can run up to $60 billion on a single day.

Popular Comments

The thing is, if Boehner really believed that there wasn't enough support
in the House to pass a clean CR vote, he'd be raring and ready to schedule
one. Just think of the leverage he'd have if it failed to pass.

What boehner and the house republicans are doing is extortion plain and simple.
Why does Obama need to negotiate on the ACA? It is the law of the land.

9:22 a.m. Oct. 7, 2013

Top comment

FatherOfFour

WEST VALLEY CITY, UT

Imagine if the roles were reversed. We had Mitt Romney as president and a
republican senate, but the democrats had a razor-thin majority in the House. The
democrats then put forth a bill saying that you must ban all guns or we will
shut down the
More..